Gentle Effective Acupuncture In Santa Rosa
For Pain, Stress, Digestion, Immune Health, Hormones, and Chronic Complex Conditions
If you’re looking for acupuncture in Santa Rosa that goes beyond temporary relief and helps you heal deeply and thrive, you’re in the right place. We specialize in gentle acupuncture that truly works.
Our style of acupuncture is known for providing quick relief, often as soon as the treatment starts. While it’s best known for instant pain relief, it’s equally effective for emotional stress, immune imbalances, digestive issues, hormonal concerns, and chronic or complex conditions that haven’t responded to other treatments.
Many patients who’ve tried other styles of acupuncture tell us that this feels different–more relaxing, immediately effective, powerful, and more focused while also treating the whole person. Or as one patient said—“This feels less whac-a-mole and more holistic.”
Ready to experience gentle acupuncture that helps you feel better, faster?
The process is simple:
1) SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT
Book online and we’ll send you everything you need to be ready for first visit.
If you have any questions, if you’re unsure if acupuncture and/or herbal medicine are right for you, or would like help scheduling, just give us a call. We are happy to answer questions about conditions we frequently treat and appointments at our office. We can also help you schedule a free 15 minute consult with an acupuncturist so you can speak directly with them about your specific condition and how we can help you.
2) DETAILED ASSESSMENT & PERSONALIZED TREATMENT PLAN
At your first appointment the acupuncturist will do a thorough assessment of your condition and it’s pattern, medical history, other factors, and most importantly, discuss your goals with you. They will then identify the root cause and create a treatment approach tailored specifically to you.
After this assessment, you’ll receive your first acupuncture treatment—most people get so relaxed they fall asleep or lose track of time—and you will be given a treatment plan with simple, easy-to-follow instructions. Your treatment plan may include herbal medicine, dietary, and lifestyle adjustments to address the root of your condition.
3) START FEELING BETTER
You’ll start with regular visits, often twice a week, to ensure close support as you begin to feel your body establishing a new pattern. We want to make sure your treatment plan is providing you with:
- Pain & Symptom Relief
- More “Good Days” — Mental Clarity, Energy, Mood, Stamina
- Possible Reduction in Medications
- Stronger Resilience and Fewer Flareups
In most cases patients feel pain and symptom relief, a sense of relaxation, and improved mental clarity after 1-3 treatments. You’ll start to feel your relief lasting longer and enjoy more time doing the things you love. As your improvements hold longer between sessions, we will start spacing visits out to once a week. This usually occurs after 6 visits with some individual variability.
As your body and mind are rebalancing and returning to their original pattern of health, you’ll notice a new level of wellbeing and resiliency. This usually occurs after 8-12 visits. We’ll continue to spread the treatments apart to every other week, every 3 weeks, and once a month, then on an as-needed basis for “tuneups”.
We are here for you, in case you have new healthcare issues you want to address, or feel like you are prone to more issues during a particular time or activity. Of course, many of our patients want to continue with regular maintenance, and we are always happy to work with you on that level.
Make an Appointment
Ready to start feeling better?
Schedule your appointment online
or give us a call at 707-527-0868
and we will answer your questions.
How Does Acupuncture Work?
Here at Thrive we are always aiming to explain acupuncture in a way that you can understand.
Chinese medicine theory says that there are blockages in the body, like a kink in the hose, and imbalances like pain and illness happen upstream or downstream. These blockages are called qi blockages and they are both energy blockages and physical blockages.
What is blocked energy? When was the last time you had a day that you just felt “off” all day? And then there are other times when you feel “on”. We’ve also all walked into a room and felt the energy was off, or was warm and inviting. That’s the feeling of your energy being blocked or in the flow.
What is the physical side of how acupuncture works? Numerous sources now say that the word qi was incorrectly translated as energy and that a more accurate translation is circulation. In the circulation there is potential energy with oxygen and nutrients. Acupuncture has been shown via imaging to activate the midbrain that releases your regulating hormones, feel good chemicals, and nutrients into your blood. And other imaging has shown that acupuncture is directional. For example when one point is activated your body sends more blood to the heart, but when another point is activated your body sends more blood to the digestive system.
We believe that this is the key to how acupuncture works on the physical level. Circulation that is carrying blood (with all the things your body needs) to the right place(s) for you activates your body’s self-healing. This boosts the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, and heal), eases inflammation, reduces pain, balances hormones, strengthens your immune system, resets the digestive system–all things that acupuncture has been shown to do.
So acupuncture works by increasing energy and circulation to specific areas of the body and activating your body’s natural healing response in those areas. This is why acupuncture can help with so many different kinds of problems.
Does Acupuncture Hurt? What Is A Treatment Like?
We’re not going to say you don’t feel anything, but most people fall asleep or get so relaxed they lose track of time during their treatment–and that would not be happening if they were lying there in pain or discomfort. We specialize in gentle acupuncture and focus on creating a relaxing environment. People often comment how relaxing our office and the treatments are.
During your acupuncture treatment ultra-fine needles are placed at acupuncture points to treat your imbalance and activate the body’s healing system. The hair thin needles come in sterile packaging, are only used once, and are disposed of immediately following your treatment.
Normally you rest for 30 minutes lying down on a comfortable massage table. As you rest you may feel warmth, tingling, heaviness, coolness, or lightness near the points or often in other places. This is the body rebalancing. It’s like all your traffic lights were red and we turned them all green. You can feel some traffic jams and bottle necks happening, and then working themselves out and opening up. Some people don’t feel much except a feeling of relaxation and acupuncture is still working.
For your first appointment, plan to spend an hour and twenty minutes at the office; wear comfortable clothing that allows us access to your arms from the elbows down and your legs from the knees down; and please make sure you have eaten but are not too full.
Follow-up appointments last 60 minutes; you will report your progress and receive an acupuncture treatment.
What Style of Acupuncture Are You Talking About?
We practice distal acupuncture sometimes called the Balance Method by Richard Tan, Master Tung Acupuncture, Channel Acupuncture, or I Ching Acupuncture. It’s a more ancient style of acupuncture than what is taught as the foundation in most acupuncture schools. It’s well known for patients feeling relief, often as soon as the first few points are placed. It got famous in the US as acupuncture for instant pain relief. It’s just as effective for other conditions like stress, digestion, hormones, the immune system, and other chronic complex conditions–especially those that have not responded to other treatments.
We love that patients experience relief sooner rather than later because we’re super results motivated. Patients tell us they love that they feel relief quickly and that it gives them hope that they can feel better.
What Does Acupuncture Treat?
Pain
Acute & Chronic Pain Tendonitis Restless Leg Syndrome Sports Injuries Tennis Elbow Numbness & Tingling Sprains & Trauma Knee Pain Trigger Finger Musculoskeletal pain Arthritis Bell’s Palsy Repetitive Motion Injuries Fibromyalgia Neuralgia Back, Neck, & Shoulder Pain Headaches & Migraines Peripheral Neuropathy Sciatica TMJ/Jaw Pain Phantom-Limb Pain Whiplash Gout Menstrual Cramps
Stress
Stress Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Anxiety Mania Insomnia Indecision Nervous Tension Low Energy Ruminating Depression Grief Foggy Head
Immune System
Allergies Sinus Headaches Recovery After Prolonged Illness Hay Fever Coughs & Bronchitis Immune System Dysfunctions Rhinitis Asthma Chronic Fatigue Sinusitis & Sinus Infections Eye, Ear, & Throat Disorders
Colds & Flus, Including Corona Viruses such as COVID-19
Digestion
Constipation Diarrhea IBS/IBD Diverticulitis Gallbladder Imbalance Ulcerative Colitis Acid Reflux Heart Burn Nausea Crohn’s Disease Hemorrhoids Fissures Bloating Gas Stress Related Digestion Imbalances
Hormones
Perimenopause (night sweats, hot flashes, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, joint pain, heavy bleeding) Dysmenorrhea (painful periods, cramping) Amenorrhea Irregular periods Heavy Bleeding or Spotting PMS Endometriosis Fibroids & Cysts Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) Headaches & Migraines Bloating & Fatigue Hormonal Acne Night Sweats & Hot Flashes
Chronic Complex Conditions
That Have Not Responded To Other Treatments
Most people in the US come to the acupuncturist after nothing else has worked and things have gotten complicated. This doesn’t intimidate us. We’re excited to bring a new perspective and figure out how we can help your condition with your unique circumstances. The goods news is we don’t need a clear western medicine diagnosis in order to be able to help you. We’ll use our system of diagnosis, listen to your priorities, and set up a clear treatment plan so we can both track how much we’re helping you.
